Heathrow's terminal five was hit by a fresh round of technical
problems over the weekend after the
baggage system failed again.
British Airways was forced to cancel 12 flights on Saturday and
six on Sunday at T5 because of the faults. The airline had hoped to
return to normal service on Saturday. A number of flights were also
cancelled because of bad weather.
Airport owners BAA said problems with the baggage system at T5
started on Saturday morning and were worked on overnight. A
spokesperson said it had been resolved by Sunday morning.
British Airways said on its website, "We regret to announce that
the British Airports Authority (BAA) baggage system in Terminal 5
is still suffering computer problems causing disruption to British
Airways flights.
"We are urging the BAA to
resolve these issues as soon as possible."
The airlines said the failure affected the baggage
reconciliation system which ensures that no bags are loaded onto an
aircraft where the passenger is not travelling. Baggage handlers
had to manually reconcile bags for each flight instead of using the
automated system, which takes more time - leading to
cancellations.
A British Airways spokesperson said, "We've not made
cancellations today (Monday) because of the baggage system - it's
been due to the weather.
"We had to make a number of cancellations on Saturday and Sunday
due to a problem with the BAA baggage system. It was fixed on
Sunday and we continue to monitor its performance."
The problems came after the terminal's
opening was overshadowed by baggage sytems problems. A
fifth of flights were cancelled the day after opening and
thousands of bags have still not been reunited with their
owners.
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